How They Came to Be: The Story of CoveClan
by Vampires Will Never Hurt Us
Summary: Ever wonder how CoveClan got to the lake? Well, now you can find out! NOTE: This story will not make sense unless you've read Bloodstained Tears Book 1. Rated T for safety.
1. Allegiances

-1**Hey there peeps! I decided to write a story about how CoveClan came to the lake forest in which the Clans now live. So this story takes place before Bluestar was even born, when CoveClan had just risen. So, here you go! And I'm going to list the kits in the Clans, just 'cuz I feel like it. :D**

**Allegiances**

**CoveClan**

**Leader:** Icestar - Icy white she-cat with green eyes.

**Deputy:** Starlingfeather - Brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes.

**Apprentice,** Shellpaw

**Medicine Cat:** Deadheart - Brown tabby tom with one ear, no claws, no tail, and is missing a chunk of skin and fur from his left flank.

**Warriors:**

Fireclaw - Dark ginger tom with ice blue eyes.

Jadewhisker - Silver she-cat with brown eyes.

Tigerwhisper - Ginger tom with silver eyes.

**Apprentice,** Stormpaw

Lightningfoot - Tan tom with green eyes.

**Apprentice,** Fadepaw

Fatalheart - Black-and-white tom with blue eyes.

Grandheart - Broad-shouldered golden-brown tom with amber eyes.

**Apprentice,** Coldpaw

Fogvision - Misty silver she-cat with ice blue eyes.

**Apprentices:**

Shellpaw - Calico she-cat with moss green eyes.

Stormpaw - Cloudy gray tom with ice blue eyes.

Fadepaw - Tortoiseshell she-cat.

Coldpaw - White tom.

**Queens:**

Dawngaze - Calico she-cat.

Hawkfeather - Brown tabby she-cat with blue eyes.

**Kits:**

Russetkit - Dark ginger tom with green eyes. (Mother, Dawngaze)

Heatherkit - Calico she-cat with silver eyes. (Mother, Dawngaze)

Fleetingkit - Ginger she-cat with silver eyes. (Mother, Dawngaze)

Eaglekit - Brown tabby tom with ice blue eyes. (Mother, Hawkfeather)

Swallowkit - Black-and-white she-cat with ice blue eyes. (Mother, Hawkfeather)

**Elders:**

Beamstep - Light ginger tom with ice blue eyes.

Mudfeather - Brown tom with green eyes.

**Other Cats:**

Tabitha - Dainty white she-cat with amber eyes.

Flame - Dark ginger she-cat with ice blue eyes, daughter of Tabitha.


	2. Prologue

**Hey, people! Sorry I haven't updated any of my multi-chapter stories in a while. I'm in the middle of a HUGE wave of writer's block, which is why I haven't been working on Bloodstained Tears. Hopefully, this will keep you guys for a while, or at least until the writer's block is gone. So yeah. Please bear in mind that I had to write this in my condition. So, sorry if it totally stinks.**

Prologue

Leafbare. The time when every bit of the forest goes from lush green to dull, powdery white. The time when the river freezes over, and it is impossible to catch fish. The time when you could freeze to death just by accidentially falling asleep in a patch of snow. The time when avalanches and wolves were abundant. But none of these issues concerned Icestar, the leader of CoveClan. When her Clan complained or fretted, she would simply say, "We are strong enough. Do not fear." Yet the Clan feared. Icestar's words often did little to comfort them, as whenever she said something would not happen, it usually did.

For instance, during greenleaf, when the vultures were visiting, in search of a meal, a patrol was sent out to drive away a family of foxes. Icestar had told the Clan that the patrol would return safely. They didn't. They were all slaughtered by the foxes and their carcasses eaten by the vultures. With each season, the Clan grew smaller, and all cats feared for their lives, even Fireclaw, who seemed to be the bravest cat in the whole Clan, often spent the days cowering in the medicine den, faking illness or injury. The queens demanded that the nursery be moved to the middle of the camp, for fear of foxes or wolves sneaking in at night and eating their kits. But Icestar always repeated the same hollow, comfortless words.

"We are strong enough. Do not fear." But some cats, such as the elders, hung on to a strand of hope as thin as a spiderweb, hope that Icestar would be right someday. When mentors were too frightened to train their apprentices, which was nearly every day, the elders tried to convince the apprentices that Icestar's words would someday be true. They told tales of the future, when they would be free. The spoke of places they had been to before Icestar had come along, fun and exciting destinations from their apprenticeship. Only one young apprentice actually listened to and understood the elders' tales, and she was the only one who knew that someday, freedom would rise from the ashes and welcome all of them, from the youngest kit to the oldest elder. Freedom would be there, waiting for them.


	3. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Fluffy white bits of snow drifted from the gray clouds high above the heads of the creatures confined to the earth, landing upon their ears or noses. For most creatures, this was a joy. The first snowfall of leafbare usually told the smaller creatures of the forest that they could go to sleep until the snow melted. But for others, snow meant cold, harsh nights with little prey. One of these creatures whom particularly hated the snow was Fadepaw, a young, eight-moon-old apprentice of CoveClan. She grunted, shaking her head as a snowflake landed on the tip of her nose.

"Drat," she muttered. "Snow. I hate snow."

"Why?" asked her companion, a tom named Coldpaw. He bit into the scrawny thrush the two of them were sharing.

"It's cold," Fadepaw whined. "And it melts on your fur, so then your pelt only gets wet. I hate it when my pelt gets wet!"

"You need to stop being so stuck up," Coldpaw meowed, nosing the thrush toward Fadepaw.

Not wanting to reply right away, the young apprentice bit off a small piece of meat and chewed it as slowly as she could manage. "I just don't like being wet," she replied when she finally swallowed her bite. "It makes me cold, and then I spend the whole night shivering." She nudged the thrush back to Coldpaw.

"I suppose that's true," he murmured, flicking his ear as a snowflake fell onto it. "Do you want to go on a hunting patrol?" he asked suddenly. "I think they're getting ready to leave."

Fadepaw looked toward the Steeprock, where the leader, Icestar made her announcements. Coldpaw was right. Fireclaw, Grandheart, Stormpaw, Jadewhisker, and Starlingfeather were gathering themselves beneath the tall, steep slab of stone that sat at the edge of the camp. Coldpaw leaped to his paws and darted over to his mentor, Grandheart. Not wanting to waste the thrush, Fadepaw finished it off quickly, then bounded off after her companion.

"...so can we?" Coldpaw was asking as Fadepaw approached.

Grandheart grinned down at the two apprentices. "Of course you can," he meowed warmly.

Fadepaw nodded and trotted over to Stormpaw. The handsome, gray tom's pelt was well groomed and smoothed back. His tail waved back and forth while he chattered with Jadewhisker.

"Hi, Stormpaw," she mewed timidly.

"Oh," Stormpaw meowed, turning to face the apprentice. "Hey." He turned back to Jadewhisker and continued to talk to her. Discouraged and heartbroken, she padded away.

"Fadepaw!" Coldpaw called. The she-cat padded over to him sadly. "You wanna go hunting together?"

"Isn't that why we're on this patrol?" Fadepaw asked.

"Well, yeah," Coldpaw meowed. "But Grandheart told me that we're all splitting up into groups to cover more ground. Do you want to be in my group?"

"Sure," Fadepaw sighed.

Grandheart flicked his tail a heartbeat later, and the patrol charged out into the forest. Fadepaw sprinted after them as quickly as her paws would carry her. The snow began to fal more heavily.

"We have to find some prey before the snow piles up!" Starlingfeather, the deputy of CoveClan, called over her shoulder. She quickened her pace, pulling to the front of the patrol, and continued to sprint along swiftly, never seeming to slow up or get tired.

"She's really fast," Fadepaw murmured to Coldpaw when she caught up to him.

"Mmhmm," Coldpaw murmured. "Really fast."

Suddenly, she came to a halt. The rest of the patrol nearly crashed into her flanks trying to stop themselves, too. Several of the warriors near the front of the patrol gasped. Fadepaw craned her neck, trying to see what was happening.

A sudden cry rose from Starlingfeather. "Lightningfoot is dead!"


End file.
